The road to independence: improving life skills in youth transitioning to adulthood

Youth transitioning to adulthood from government care or youth agreement tend to experience poor outcomes in a variety of domains including education, employment, housing, income, relationships, incarceration, substance abuse and life skills. Inadequate life skills have been identified as a factor that contributes to poor life outcomes for youth leaving care. While miscellaneous life skills programs exist in BC, there has not been a coordinated effort to improve the life skills of youth leaving care. Additionally, very little academic literature has evaluated different methods of facilitating life skills development. This study identifies the most effective methods of improving life skills of youth leaving government care and examines barriers to facilitating life skills development in this population. This study provides recommendations to the Ministry of Children and Family Development on how to facilitate the acquisition of life skills among youth exiting the child welfare system in BC.